Blanche Skiff Ross undoubtedly knew of P.E.O. from the time she was a small child. Her aunt, her mother Mary’s sister, was P.E.O. Founder Alice Virginia Coffin. The organization was founded in January of 1869 by Alice Coffin and six of her friends who were students at Iowa Wesleyan University.
Blanche Skiff became a member of P.E.O. in June 1894 when she was initiated into Chapter AO in Newton, Iowa. She was a graduate of Northwestern University where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega.
On February 8, 1899, she married Franklin Pierce Ross, who at that time, was a travelling freight agent for Iowa Central Railroad. They lived in Monmouth, Illinois, and she was a charter member of Chapter E in Monmouth.
Frank Ross went into business with Blanche’s brother, Frank Vernon Skiff. They opened the Jewel Tea Company in 1901 and it became very successful. At first, the company’s main product was freshly roasted coffee which was sold and delivered from horse drawn wagons. They had six routes in 1903, 850 routes in 1905, and today the name is still around as Jewel-Osco stores.
The first Jewel store opened at 643 E. 43rd. Street, Chicago, Illinois, in 1901.
In 1910, the Rosses moved to Oak Park, Illinois, where Blanche became involved in many organizations including the Parent Teacher Association, a garden club, and the Art Institute in Chicago. She remained a loyal P.E.O. member.
In the late 1950s, plans were drawn up for a library building at Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri. The college’s founder, Alice Virginia Cottey Stockard, gave the college to the P.E.O. Sisterhood in 1927. Blanche Skiff Ross and her daughters Verna Orndorff and Diane Fennekohl (a Kappa Kappa Gamma at Northwestern) were major contributors to the library fund and it was named in Blanche’s honor.
Dr. Blanche Dow, President of Cottey College with Blanche Skiff Ross (seated)
She spoke at the laying of the building’s cornerstone on September 5, 1962. The Blanche Skiff Ross Memorial Library opened on March 16, 1963. The Georgian-style 27,000 square foot building was fully air-conditioned. It was dedicated on October 13, 1963. She died in 1969. In 1977, her daughters funded the redecorating of the library.
The library at Cottey College
